George Kaiser Family Foundation Announces Grants To Tulsa Charities

Tuesday, the George Kaiser Family Foundation announced grants of almost $5 million to Tulsa charities.

Their list focuses on groups that work with young children and the grants total range from a few thousand dollars to more than $300,000 for each agency - all of them in some way support families with their work.

Eileen Bradshaw, the director of the Food Bank, said support from the Kaiser Foundation helps them stock up on food and build support from everyday donors by offering to match what smaller donors give.

“I think the idea is to increase the donor base, and I can tell you that's really happened,” Bradshaw said. “We have a lot of folks who have been giving to us for eight or nine years now, and they started because of the Kaiser match.

That long-term support helps pay for backpacks for kids, and the food truck that gets fresh produce into areas with few grocery stores and lots of children.

The Kaiser Foundation targets much of their giving to programs that help children under the age of three; that includes the Domestic Violence Intervention Services, which got one of the larger grants, over $300,000.

"We just couldn't do the work we do without the support from GKFF," said Tracey Lyall with Domestic Violence Intervention Services.

DVIS is trying to disrupt what can become a generational pattern of family violence.

Lyall said, "It's some of Tulsa's most vulnerable families. The families who come to us typically have few other options for safety."

The Kaiser Foundation is also the largest donor to Family and Children Services, which can help more than 7,000 families with the nearly half-million dollar donation. They use it to provide free or low-cost counseling services for children in crisis.

"When a family has something bad, or traumatic, or life changing experience happen to them, they're usually not counting on budgeting the cost of therapy or counseling services as well," Christine Marsh said.

You can find a full list of grant recipients for this round of giving below; 54 different charities and the people they serve are benefiting.